干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Dissolved arsenic accumulates in salts formed by evaporation of dilute and saline water at the ground surface and in the vadose zone in some areas within the Mojave Desert. The distribution and abundance of salts containing water-soluble arsenic is variably dependent on salinity and depth to the saturated zone. Dilute water (< 5 mS/cm) is able to transfer arsenic through a vadose zone as thick as 4 m resulting in accumulations at the ground surface. Greater salinity (15 to 90 mS) limits the vertical rise of water resulting in arsenic accumulation in the subsurface.